Riverdale – Chapter Sixty-Two: Witness for the Prosecution

By: Courtney Groom

At Riverdale High Betty (Lili Reinhart) meets Kevin (Casey Cott) at his locker and tells him to join her for her first Junior FBI class, run by her brother Charles (Wyatt Nash). Kevin asks Betty if Charles is gay or straight and Betty says she has no idea, soon realizing she doesn’t know much about her brother. However, Seniors from a bunch of different schools have signed up, so maybe Kevin will meet a cute guy?

At the prison Mary (Molly Ringwald) is sitting down with Hermione (Marisol Nichols) and Veronica (Camila Mendes) because the court case day has finally arrived. Molly is saying that the DA is pinning her entire case on linking Hermione to Hiram’s (Mark Consuelos) would-be murderer, Tall Boy. Hermione says that’s absurd since she’s never even had any interaction with him. Mary states there is still the issue of the large sum of money the police found in her monogrammed Tucci bag in Tall Boy’s apartment. Hermione notes obviously Hiram planted it there to frame her. Mary tells her that FP will testify that he searched Tall Boy’s apartment right after he died and that there was no money or evidence there at the time. Having to choose between parents, it is clear that Veronica’s priorities are to setting her mom free and letting her dad rot in jail.

To start them off in the first class of the Junior FBI Training Program Charles put together an exercise about serial killers. They have to identify a serial killer from three pictures of three different people. And to our (not) surprise, Betty gets everyone correct. Charles asks her how she got the first one right and she says intuition. After the second right one Charles says it’s like her intuition is a sixth sense. He tells her it’s like a raw instinct after the third one. Charles then explains to everyone that all three of them have one thing in common, a specific set of genes – the MAOA and the CDH13 genes, a/k/a the serial killer gene. And if you remember from last season, this is exactly what Alice (Madchen Amick) told Betty she had, but we all thought it was fake due to Alice being under the Farms spell.

Panicking, Betty goes to the doctors where he can confirm that she has the MAOA and CDH13 genes. Kevin is outside the room waiting for her, but she tells him there’s nothing to worry about as she doesn’t have the genes.

At the next Junior FBI Training Program class Charles is talking about serial killers and instances of animal cruelty in their youth. Betty starts to think back to what she might have done to her cat, Caramel, when she was younger. In a dream Betty is at her house and sees a younger version of herself with Caramel outside on the front lawn. She asks her younger self if she’s okay and what she’s doing. She watches her younger self kill Caramel with a rock and screams, waking herself up.

At Hermione’s trial FP (Skeet Ulrich) is testifying, saying he arrived at the cabin alone and he discharged Tall Boy’s weapon at the scene after he got violent. He died on his way to the hospital. Mary asks him when he searched Tall Boy’s later did he find Hermione Lodge’s Tucci bag full of cash. FP replies no. Mary states the prosecution claims they found the bag there. FP states if it was then it was planted after he had left. The counselor starts to interrogate FP, showing him a copy of the lease of the cabin where FP claims to have shot Tall Boy. FP assumes it was Hiram’s cabin. FP gets asked to read the owner’s name to which FP says, “Hermione Lodge.”

At the prison Veronica is talking to Hermione, telling her that Mary is back-channeling with the DA’s office and they’re talking plea deals. Veronica wants to know why she didn’t tell them that the cabin was under her name. Hermione tells her that it never was and that Hiram must have been up to his old tricks again to stitch her up. Veronica then starts to wonder what if Hermione can just change her plea to guilty, which might make it all go away. Or at least shorten her sentence. However, Mary tells her that Hermione could be sent to prison for life and Veronica says not unless they find someone with a magic wand to pardon her.

Veronica meets up with Governor Dooley (Fred Henderson) at the La Bonne Nuit and says she has a small favor to ask. In an attempt to save her mother, she gives him a folder showing the Governor ordering a bogus quarantine, accepting drug money as a bribe and receiving kickbacks from Hiram’s jail. Veronica says help her now and this will be the last time she’ll blackmail him.

At the next Junior FBI Training Program class Charles is telling everyone that serial killers leave clues, take trophies, keep records, journals, diaries and letters. They see themselves as the heroes in their own stories and sometimes it’s difficult for them to distinguish between reality and fantasy. After the class Betty is looking through all of her childhood diaries, trying to see if there are any connection and proof that she could be on her way to becoming a serial killer herself.

At Hermione’s trial Mary tells the judge that her client would like to say something for a closing statement. Hermione says after careful consideration she’s decided to change her plea. She pleads guilty to the charges against her.

At Pop’s Betty tells Kevin that she lied to him. At the doctor’s office she was told she does have the genes. And there’s more, something she thinks she may have repressed. She asks Kevin if he remembers her cat, Caramel. Betty found her on the front lawn after getting hit by a car, in pain and dying. She went to get her dad for help. In a flashback, Hal (Lochlyn Munro) is telling Betty that Caramel is her cat and that she needs to take care of this. Betty tells Kevin that he handed her a rock and she killed Caramel. Kevin tells her that it wasn’t her and that was her deeply screwed-up dad. Kevin suggests considering withdrawing from the class as things might be getting a little too intense for Betty.

Betty finds Charles and informs him that she’s quitting the program. Charles assures her that she’s a natural. She tells him that’s the problem, it’s too easy for her. Betty could identify every single killer on his slideshow because she’s like them. She has the same genes as them. Charles says it’s all the more reason for her to stay in the program. Charles then admits that he also has the genes too and that it’s why he joined the FBI in the first place, to control those impulses. Charles tells her that she can use this, harness this, to keep the darkness in check like he did.

At La Bonne Nuit Veronica is on the phone with Governor Dooley and it sounds like he granted Hermione the pardon. A lady at the bar says it sounds like she just got good news. Veronica says she did and explains the situation with her mother. The unknown lady states “the same as your father” and Veronica asks if they know each other. She tells Veronica no, they do not, but she’ll tell Veronica the same thing she told the federal prosecutor. She’s a licensed private investigator who was hired by Hiram Lodge to uncover any malfeasance against him. The woman tells her that she has multiple recordings of the two of them plotting, including a conversation they had in a booth at La Bonne Nuit discussing Pop Tate’s subpoena. She had the place bugged. The woman tells Veronica the federal prosecutor has already told the judge that she’s dropping the charges against Hiram thanks to the information provided. Veronica says whatever Hiram is paying her she’ll double it. The woman says nice try, but that won’t work with her. She also refers to Hiram as “our father.” Adding to Riverdale’s big family tree we are introduced to Hiram’s secret daughter, Hermosa (Mishel Prada).

At the courthouse Hiram’s trial has just ended and he is a free man once again. Leaving with his second daughter by his side he tells the press he couldn’t be happier about the outcome. Alice asks what his plans are now he is free and he surprisingly announces his candidacy for mayor of Riverdale.

Betty is with Kevin. He is confused. He thought they were bailing on the FBI class. Betty interrupts saying that was before she had privileged information making her realize that they don’t know anything about Charles. The only places she’s ever seen Charles are Pop’s, her house and the FBI office. What does he do all day? Where does he live? Why is he still in Riverdale? Kevin said he thought Charles was helping out Jughead’s dad in some cases. Betty wants to know what cases? Charles leaves Pop’s while Betty is in her car across the parking lot taking notes on what he is doing.

Jughead (Cole Sprouse) is now somewhat settled into life at Stonewall Prep. In his latest class he gets star struck when he learns that Mr. Chipping (Sam Witwer) is the writer behind his beloved Baxter Brothers mystery novels. He’s just the latest ghost writer, though, and they’re looking for a new ghost-writer – Stonewall Prep student – to be his successor. In a competition with the rest of the students the winner must create the best murder mystery story the world has ever seen. Jughead is determined to carry on the legacy of his late Grandpa and win.

The episode ends with another flash-forward to biology class of the spring semester. FP bursts through the door saying, “Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge, you’re under arrest for the cold-blooded murder of my son, Jughead Jones.”